Haircut time!

Daddy just couldn't take those swirling, golden locks any longer... OK, OK. I give. Off to the haircut place we went.

We went to the same Fantastic Sams where Emilyn had her first haircut... Conveniently located next door to Smoothie King. That's the secret for the baby haircut: First you get a smoothie. Then, you eat it, spoon by spoon, while you get your hair cut! Much less traumatic that way!

Allen was very good. He actually didn't cry until after the lady was done cutting his hair! He's kind of that way. The trauma is slow to sink in.

Emilyn was good, too. But then, she always is!



Allen's first haircut

Up, down: Reflections on a lunatic year

2006. What a ride it's been.

You hear people say "emotional roller coaster," and you think, boy, what a stupid cliche. But the year started out with us riding high, me blissfully off work, taking care of our brand new baby boy. Figuring out his wants and needs. Watching him learn to smile.

Then, we lost Mom, and it call came crashing down. Soon after, we heard Dad was sick and wasn't going to get better. What a winter.

It took us months to hit our stride again. March brought our trip to the beach, and our little boy blossomed! Bottles were a blessing, and Allen found out that in bed with Grammy Shark was one of his very-favorite places to be. Suddenly, everything was beautiful, him most of all. We were soaring again.

Emilyn was shining in first grade. She donned whiskers and a crazy hat for her Dr. Seuss performance, and we busted with pride. She got Daddy up and dancing in Indiana Jones gear. Is that miraculous, or what?

Allen sat up, then stood up. He did some crawling. Got some teeth. Emilyn learned to pedal to wherever her two wheels could carry her. "The world is our scallop!" Another moment in the clouds.

Then, back to Earth. We three flew to say goodbye to Grampy. He was not the man we knew. Blessedly, he found his peace a few weeks later.

Emilyn conquered her fear of the water and learned to swim like a fish. Up, up, up! Daddy got bad news from the doctor and was suddenly afraid for his health. Down, down, down. (He got serious about it, cut out the cookies and dropped 25 pounds. And 100 points off his total cholesterol! How's that for a death-defying plunge?)

Allen shocked us, by telling us "hat." We hit the road for home, our most ambitious road trip yet. Cleaning out Mom and Dad's house. Two weeks of ups and downs. Going through two lifetimes of stuff, we felt so close to them, and it was so hard. But all the while, we Crabbes were together. (Sometimes very close together. Like in Cabin 10.)

Emilyn started second grade... Loved it! Allen painted himself with poop. Hated that! He grabbed handfuls of birthday cake, and blew a big raspberry. Up, up, up we went. To the stratosphere!

The leaves turned. And fell. Allen got up and tottered, then toddled. He sprouted more teeth. Emilyn shed some. The Cardinals took a desperate dive... down, down, down. Then... what!? CHAMPS! "We shocked the world!" Couldn't be a better metaphor for this messed-up year. Betty Lou would have whooped with joy.

Emilyn got down (and up) at SkyZone with her pals. Turning 8 was never so much fun. A shark and a cheetah went trick-or-treetah. The temperature soared... 70-plus! Then crashed. 20, 10...

Then the ice blew in, and the trees came down. Power lines, too. But the Crabbes stayed warm, with luck and love.

Which is how we get through all the ups and downs: With luck and love. Thanks to all who came along for the ride. May 2007 bring peace and joy for us all.

Downloading pictures

Since I upgraded to the "new" Blogger, I've been having some trouble displaying photos on here... It keeps cutting off the right edge on all my horizontal images, which just drives me nuts. I may be scaling them down a little bit to fit, and that does occasionally affect the quality of the image. SO, if you plan to save any of these shots to your computer, go ahead and download from DropShots instead. Click on the photos here, and it'll take you right there.

Jennie's Book Chat: "Split Second"

The second in the Maggie O'Dell series by Alex Kava was a pretty good one, with Maggie tracking down her nemesis, the serial killer Albert Stucky. She's driven pretty much to the edge because he chooses his victims based on who she comes in contact with: The lady who helps her buy a bottle of wine at the liquor store; the waitress who takes her order at the hotel bar; a woman she says "hi" to in her new neighborhood... That type of thing.

She's falling apart throughout the book, which I have to admit is kind of getting old. She's constantly falling apart. Not in a hysterical way, but in a sick, sad, neurotic way that would make me scared if she were real and armed and walking around with FBI creds. Hunky Nick makes another appearance, but this time he's a DA in Boston. Again, he's in for a chapter and gone again, and I've heard of other Kava fans complaining about this... Maggie has a deeper relationship with her dog!

Anyway, it's on to the third Maggie book, "The Soul Catcher." (The library is getting tired of my auto renewals, I think...)

Thanks to my loving family, I've got a big backlog of books to get through! Happy reading in the new year!

Santa's Magical Kingdom

I took lots and lots of blurry, streaky, smeary photos tonight on our drive through Santa's Magical Kingdom... It's a Christmas light display that the local Jellystone Park puts up every year. And normally, I'm not one for artsy photos, but this is by far the best one I took: Me, taking a photo, in the mirror, with the lights above and behind us reflected, too.

The place is really gaudy, and something to see. So I included a few more of the pictures that came out so-so. Enjoy this last shot of Christmas!

Santa's Magical Kingdom

Hooray for Santa!

Allen was a little overwhelmed. But the two Crabbe tots were overjoyed with all the bounty that Christmas brought... And piled up in our living room:



Emilyn loved her fuzzy pink bathrobe...



And all her Littlest Pets and Polly Pockets...



So, she and Allen and Mommy and Daddy say, thank you! to all who sent such wonderful gifts.

Christmas Eve, Part II: Cookies for Santa

When we got home from Amy's, Emilyn and I got busy making cookies for Santa. All the leftovers went with me to work. We made peanut butter and chocolate chunk, and Emilyn decorated each one with care.

Christmas cookies

Christmas Eve (a.m.) at Amy's

A fine-looking group! Amy and Brian wondered why we showed up at their door at 9:30 in the morning, dressed and groomed so nicely. Because we shamelessly wanted Brian to take our picture, of course! And look how right we were!

But we did lots of present-opening, too. Emilyn was overjoyed: Aunt Amy trumped Santa and got the Little Lovin' Pet Playhouse! Holy cow!



Allen was thrilled with his phone. He immediately started walking around in circles, talking on the phone, with a sippy cup in one hand... In his little business casual outfit, it looks like he's making some high-powered toddler deals. "I said sell at 20, you imbecile!"



Wyatt got to open his "Stinky Face" books, plus Will's Itsy Bitsy Spider. Will was off-camera, napping most of the time.



Oh, and on the way over, we saw a hot-air balloon... Too slow for Santa!



It was fun morning, and a great Christmas preview!

Christmas Eve at Aunt Amy's

(Slightly) new look

They made some changes at Blogger, but I and they have tried to keep things as much the same as we could. If you notice something that's totally wonky, leave a comment here. Meanwhile, stay tuned for Christmas updates!

Splish, splash!

Ol' Bobby Darin (another of Mom's favorites) had nothin' on this little guy:

Bring on Santa!

The Crabbes are ready!

Good for goodness' sake? Check! (And darned cute, too.)

Children nestled all snug in their beds? Check! (Remember, he knows when you're awake.)



Halls decked? Check!




Inside: And out:

Now, if we can keep the tree intact and the wrapping on the presents, we're all set! Baking some cookies is the next step, and Mommy's off on Christmas Eve! A merry-merry one to all!

Jennie's Book Chat: "One False Move"

As Emilyn started to read real books, I thought: Wouldn't it be great if I had written down in a notebook the title of every book as I had read it, and the dates I started and finished it?

For me and the rest of you serial readers out there, can you imagine how many notebooks we'd have filled by now? And how such an accomplishment would feel, if you were able to look back on it and have such a concrete record of what you'd read?

Well, we can't do that now, can we? And I read pretty much only trashy suspense novels, anyway. BUT, I'd still love to keep track, so I'm starting today -- digitally. It'll be a way for me to remember what I've read, by who, and recommend books to anybody out there who gives a darn... You can use the comments section to do the same for me!

I just finished "One False Move," by Alex Kava. Pretty mediocre tale of a bank robbery gone awry. Lots of divergent characters converging; it reminds you of a 1970s disaster movie. But Kava is a good writer, and I'm tearing my way through her series with Maggie O'Dell, FBI profiler. Which leads me to recommend "A Perfect Evil," the first Maggie O'Dell novel. Good book, and creepy. With a hunky sheriff and a nasty priest!

Stay tuned for my next review, the second Maggie O'Dell book, "Split Second." So far, I like it!

And check out this new feature, below... You'll be able to click on "Jennie's Book Chat" and read them all. Someday. When there are lots more to read.

Don Wenow

Dad used to crack himself up -- and me! -- every Christmas by pretending to misunderstand Christmas carols... He'd holler "Don Wenow!??" as if it was a person's name, not the lyrics of "Deck the Halls." I remember Christmas a few years ago, when he and Mom drove up, I bellowed: "Well, if it isn't Don Wenow and his lady friend, Ancient Yuletide Carol!" Anyway, it was a game of ours to dig through Christmas carols to try to come up with funny names... Here are a few more choice ones:

Shep Ardsinfield
Harold Angelsing
Mary Measure
Round John Virgin

So, this year, as a nod to Dad, why don't you all take a crack at it! Run through all those lyrics yourself, and see if you can come up with a few funny ones. We'd love to hear what you've got!

Scary stuff

Hip dysplasia? Joint infection? Toddler's fracture? Bone cancer?

What scary things we think of when our boy suddenly won't get up and walk. When he cries and favors his right leg.

So, we panic and call the doctor, of course. And, of course, Allen is up and walking just fine as soon as we hit the waiting room. It's like when your car won't make that noise for the mechanic!

Dr. Cohen said he likely stepped on something and got a "stone bruise," the kind of bruise you get on the bottom of your foot when you step on something! Like a stone! Anyway, it hurt for him to put weight on it, so he stayed off his foot, apparently. And, apparently, it doesn't hurt anymore!

Whew. Thank goodness, my good little man.

What Brown does at dawn

Isn't it every boy's dream to work outside, amid Earth's natural splendor? And big damn airplanes?

Freezing his giblets off? Pushing tons of freight? Getting doused with deicing fluid? Well, spending his wee hours in the great outdoors has its UPS and downs, Steve would say. But he gets to see the sunrise nearly every morning, and can take nice pictures like these.

The gateway at sunrise

Is it Bigfoot?

No, but these hastily snapped photos are almost as grainy... It's the pileated woodpecker, and he's spectacular. He's been showing up in the backyard, and it is a little like seeing Bigfoot. I've never seen a bird as huge and dramatic as this guy!

The bird is the word

Cheers!

Here's something cool that Daddy taught Allen: Whenever we dine out, and remember to bring his cup, Allen wants to click cups with everyone, as you do when you toast! We say "Tink!" to him, and he says it back, in his own, vowel-less way. And he grins from ear to ear. Maybe he'll be a toastmaster some day. Or, at least, he'll be in great practice by the time he's somebody's best man and has to do the deed.

After the storm

The granddaddy of all ice storms blew through here yesterday... Trees and power lines are down everywhere -- but not here! Hooray for buried lines! So, we're warm, and online, and posting the latest weather shots to you, our public!

Emilyn got sent home early from school yesterday, and today school is canceled, so that's a nice treat for her! She spent some hard time outside this morning playing, until her feet started to freeze, she said. Lots of hot cocoa in her future, I'd say... The low on Monday morning is supposed to be 7.



You may infer from these shots that Allen really enjoyed his first real taste of snow! Well, no. Of the 40 pictures I took, these were the two in which he wasn't crying. It's not the snow, so much, I think, that he hates. It's the jacket. Think Randy in "A Christmas Story."



Here's hoping the town came to plow our circle... Getting out isn't a problem. Just roll downhill! But getting back in... Just ask Steve how that went this morning.

But it sure was pretty. Take a look!

The big ice storm